Olli-Pekka Heinonen with Anum Farooq

OLLI-PEKKA HEINONEN : LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION AND THE LEARNING JOURNEY

“It’s also the question of how you grow as a human being, how you understand what does it mean to be a human being.” Olli-Pekka Heinonen Director General of the International Baccalaureate.

An authentic and honest conversation with Olli-Pekka Heinonen, addressing how education can be made as meaningful as possible for students, supporting them to become lifelong learners as well as the fine balance between skills and knowledge. Olli-Pekka is an ally and advocate for teachers, discussing the benefits of distributed leadership in education, and the meaningful way in which education is making an impact globally through a holistic process of learning.

Olli-Pekka Heinonen was appointed as Finland’s State Secretary of Prime Minister in 2012, he became State Secretary of all National Coalition Party cabinet ministers in 2015. In September 2016, he was appointed general director of the Finnish National Agency for Education. Olli-Pekka has graduated as Master of Laws from the University of Helsinki in 1990.

From 1994 to 1999, he served as the Minister of Education. In 1995, Olli-Pekka was elected to the Parliament of Finland, representing Satakunta. In the second Lipponen Cabinet, he served as the Minister of Transport and Communications from 1999 to 2002.

In 2002 he was appointed a manager at Yleisradio, the public broadcasting company of Finland. He was responsible for the transfer from analogue television to digital television in Finland. In September 2016, he was appointed general director of the Finnish National Agency for Education. Since 1 May 2021 Olli-Pekka Heinonen has held the role of Director-General of the International Baccalaureate.